


Da'len

by geekyjez



Series: Isii Lavellan (Non-Canon AUs) [25]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Childbirth, F/M, Fatherhood, Fluff, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 15:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8538304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekyjez/pseuds/geekyjez
Summary: Solas meets his child for the first time.





	

In the thousands of years he had lived, it was hard to believe he had never done this before.

Solas understood the act in a distant, almost academic sense. When the child first quickened in Isii’s belly, when that small fluttering confirmed her suspicions, he voraciously read everything he could on the subject of giving birth - which in many ways made things worse. The rate at which mortal women died during childbirth shocked him and the list of potential complications leading up to the event was unnerving. Isii did not exactly appreciate his over-attentive caution in the aftermath of that discovery. To use her terminology, he was guilty of “hovering.”

It was not as though his past experiences had given him any real insight into the matter. He'd never gotten a woman with child. Such a thing was relatively rare in Elvhenan. His people didn't feel the same urgent need to reproduce as quickly as possible to outrun their own mortality. It was a choice made at a much more leisurely pace. One would wait for the right partner, the right time, and neither had arrived for him. Considering the course his life had taken thus far, he supposed it was for the best. He knew women who had children, of course, but he was never directly involved in the birth. From his perspective, it was as though they had merely disappeared only to eventually re-emerge with an infant in their arms. Hearing about the endurance required for the act was nothing compared to seeing it firsthand.

He let Isii crush his fingers between her own, trying to resist the urge to chase her pain away with healing magic. The midwife insisted that she needed to feel this. Her body was speaking to her through that pain and she needed to listen. But every time she grit her teeth, every time she sobbed and groaned, every time her hand shook violently in his own, it tested his will. He sat behind her, cradling her against his stomach, whispering encouragements. He told her she was doing well, that she was strong enough, that this would not last much longer - though in truth he might have been reassuring himself more than her. In the end, she couldn’t hold anything back, screaming and cursing, pleading for it to be over, snapping at the woman who kept telling her to push. He could feel her tugging sharply on the Veil and thought for a moment that she might actually set something on fire. From his vantage point, Solas could not see the progress being made. He would not have recognized the moment their child was actually born were it not for the way relief shuddered violently through Isii’s body. And then, suddenly, there was a squirming bundle of sticky limbs being pressed to her breast and a pronouncement of congratulations.

It was a girl.

Solas could not stop looking at her.

At the small, pudgy limbs. Tiny, uncoordinated fists. The slightest wisps of dark hair on her scalp. Skin closer to her mother’s in shade. She had the shape of Isii’s eyes as well, the same upward taper, yet the irises that peered back at him were his own.

It was by far one of the most beautiful and surreal moments of his life.

It wasn’t until later, when the cord had been cut and Isii was finally given the chance to sleep, that he was able to properly hold her in his arms. He sat by the fire, cradling her, studying the way the light moved across her features. She’d been fussy during her bath but now seemed content, if not a bit confused. Her brow kept lowering into a adorable little frown as she peered up at him.

“ _Andaran atish’an,_ ” he murmured, keeping his voice low as Isii stirred ever so slightly on the bed. “ _Ma fenor da’len,_ ” he added, brushing his finger against her cheek. She turned her head instinctively, her lips searching aimlessly against his knuckle as a small cooing hum escaped her. “ _Eolasas em? Ame na babae._ ” He knew she could not understand him, yet the way she looked up at him made it easy to believe otherwise. “ _Ame na ghil’an. Na amelan. Jusul’aman ma eolas lothlenan. Shivasan. Jusilas._ ”

She gurgled softly before her lips rounded, small lungs expanding around a yawn. Solas peered down at her, instinctively rocking in his seat, watching as her eyelids grew heavy. “ _Melava somniar, da fenlin. Mala taren aravas, ara ma’desen melar._ ” He pulled only the thinnest strand of energy through the Veil - just enough to soothe her, to ease her into the Fade.

He would join her there soon enough.

For now, he was content to watch her sleep in his arms, her tiny face pressed against his chest.

His daughter.

His Fenasha.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Translation:
> 
> “Greetings (formal), my darling child. Do you know me? I am your father. I am your guide. Your protector. I will impart to you the knowledge forgotten. I promise. You will learn/you will remember.”
> 
> He then quotes the Dalish lullaby Mir Da’len Somniar, with an added endearment: “Time to dream, little wolfling. Your mind journeys, but I will hold you here.”


End file.
